The bioactive dental fillings could decrease the frequency of visits to the dentist and save the tooth.

Scientists tested a new teeth treatment that involves using stem cells as dental fillings. The practice could end the need for root canals.

Researchers from Harvard University and the University of Nottingham won the Royal Society of Chemistry prize for their discovery. The winning includes media support, business training and support, and a cash prize.

The new tooth fillings will use stem cells to stimulate the growth of dentin. Patients will be able to regrow the teeth that had been damaged.

The Traditional Treatment

The traditional treatment for cavities involves drilling out the affected dentin and filling the hole with a chemical composition. It is profoundly disturbing for patients, and it usually does not stop the decay.

In case the intervention does not succeed, and the tooth still gets sick, dentists remove the pulp from the root canal. This ultimate solution brings additional damage to the tissue, and the tooth becomes more and more fragile.

The classic dental fillings rely on materials that should restore the function, the morphology and the integrity of the tooth. However, they often become toxic to teeth and the organism rejects the active substance.

If the dental pulp is damaged, a root canal is needed to extract the infected tissue, and the process is irreversible.

Dental Fillings with Stem Cells

The scientists designed biomaterials that can be used just like traditional dental feelings. The difference is that they stimulate the stem cell population to repair the tissue, which means that the tooth could be able to grow itself back on the inside.

The bioactive fillings could be used for both dental disease treatments and dental surgery.

The stem cells will bring the regeneration of the dentin and the pulp. They will effectively help the tooth to restore itself to its initial form, and leave no cavities and vulnerable empty spaces in the roots or the dentine layer.

The discovery could initiate a new field in dental care, the restorative dentistry, which is regarded with high hopes as the pulp cannot restore itself like other tissues inside the human body. Once a tooth is damaged, the process of decay cannot be stopped, and it usually ends up with an unpleasant empty space.

Researchers are now discussing with industry partners to make the new material available for patients.

As the last year’s winner managed to secure a funding of $1.7 million from the Gates Foundation, it may be that the new bioactive dental treatment will be introduced on the market relatively soon.

4 Silicon Valley firms including Apple Inc. and Google Inc. have consented to a new agreement that would resolve an antitrust legal claim by tech workers, who blamed the companies of scheming to abstain from poaching each other’s employees.

The case has been strictly viewed because of the likelihood of enormous harms being rewarded and for the chance to look into the world of some of America’s best tech firms.

US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, Calif., rejected a $324.5 million settlement of the claim last year as excessively low after one of the named claimants objected.

That employee will support the new contract, his lawyer Daniel Girard said, which could be a joint payment of $415 million; the New York Times reported referring a person close to the concessions.

Delegates for Apple, Intel and Adobe declined to remark. A Google representative couldn’t be arrived at, nor could a lawyer for the claimants.

The case was based mostly on emails in which Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, previous Google CEO Eric Schmidt and some of their opponents’ detailed plans to abstain from poaching one another’s prized engineers.

In dismissing the $324.5 million deal, Koh over and again alluded to a related 2013 settlement including Disney and Intuit.

Apple and Google employees got relatively less than Disney employees, Koh said, despite the fact that claimants’ attorneys had “substantially more influence” against Apple and Google.

To match the prior settlement, the deal with Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe “would need to total at least $380 million,” Koh said.

In the short court filing on Tuesday, the firms said claimants would file a detailed clarification of the new deal “quickly.” Koh will then likely choose whether to acknowledge or reject it.